who can forget sandy? neighborhoods along the northeast september away, millions without power and damages as high as $50 billion raising lots of questions about united states structure and whether we should be spending money to fix it. number 5, is china slow something we know they will be the biggest economy in the world by 2020. >> china. >> chain a. >> chain a. >> reporter: they are getting more than a few mentions during the campaigns. probably because it's pretty clear they are both a com petter and a partner. >> number 4. europe. the european union was fractured by to much debt and the aust, rity plans to fix it. that is far from over. number 3. the housing market. finally bottom out. the combination of low home prices and continued record low mortgages set off a building and buying spree. well heeled investors started buying entire neighborhoods but first time buyer was also able to get a home for the first time in years as long as they had a heavy down payment. >> number number 2. >> project that